Rigging system for sailboat

ABSTRACT

The rig of a sailing yacht wherein one or more swept spreaders and conventional shrouds are provided with stays running diagonally downward from the tip of the spreaders to the attachment of the next pair of spreaders to the mast, respectively, to the intersection of the mast to the deck, thereby eliminating inner forestays.

United States Patent [191 Bergstriim et a1.

[ RIGGING SYSTEM FOR SAILBOAT [76] inventors: Lars Rune Bergstriim, Sodernas Fyr,

13030 Varmdo; Georg Sven-010i Ridder, Tykuvagen 4B, 181 61 Lidingo, both of Sweden [22] Filed: Aug. 27, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 391,975

[52] U.S. C1 114/102, 114/3 9 [51] Int. Cl B63b 15/02 [58] Field of Search 114/102, 39, 90, 91, 92,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,077,850 2/1963 Beuby 114/39 [451 Jan. 28, 1975 3,370,560 2/1968 Lucht 114/39 Primary I5.\'aminer--Trygve M. Blix Assistant Examiner-Charles E. Frankfort Attorney, Agent. or Firm-William E. Mouzavircs [57] ABSTRACT The rig of a sailing yacht wherein one or more swept spreaders and conventional shrouds are provided with stays running diagonally downward from the tip of the spreaders to the attachment of the next pair of spreaders to the mast, respectively, to the intersection of the mast to the deck, thereby eliminating inner forestays.

13 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEB JAN 2 8 I975 H06 PRIOR ART PR! AR RIGGING SYSTEM FOR SAILBOAT The present invention relates to a sailing yachts rig which comprises a mast with one or more swept spreaders and a system of shrouds supporting the mast relative to the hull of the yacht.

BACKGROUND The use of stays (standing rigging) to support the mast of a sailing yacht is a universally accepted method to reduce the weight and/or the cross section necessary to meet the particular requirement for structural strength. Contrary to the case with an unstayed or cantilever mast where the mast serves as a beam in bending the stayed mast will mainly be stressed as a strut in compression.

In the past, a great number of various arrangements for the staying of masts have been developed for different types of sailboats. If the survey is restricted to such types of yachts which could be characterized as modern ocean racers, it is found that the different arrangements for staying themasts with few exceptions are limited to the following versions:

Rigs With One Spreader (FIGS. 1,2,3)

For the staying in a fore and aft direction of the midpoint of the mast there has been used (a) double lower shrouds (FIGS. 2 and 2a) and (b) an inner forestay and rearward swept lower shrouds (FIGS. 3 and 3a).

Rigs With Two Or More Spreaders (FIGS. 4,5,6)

In order to eliminate the need of backstays (runners), an arrangement with swept spreaders in combination with double inner forestays according to FIGS. 5 and 5a has been adopted. If the section of the mast is very stiff and strong for bending in a fore and aft direction, an arrangement with straight (unswept) spreaders and double lower shrouds according to FIGS. 6 and 6a could be used.

For aerodynamic reasons mast sections of large diameters in a fore and aft direction are undesirable. Furthermore, inner forestays and to some extent forward swept lower shrouds form annoying obstacles during the following sail maneuvers and settings of sails:

l. Tacking, especially with jibs of large overlap 2. Gybes with spinnaker with the spinnaker pole retained in its fitting at the mast 3. Use of inner stay sails 4. Use of a boomed jib.

One more reason against an inner forestay is the fact that it usually is awkward from a structural point of view to obtain a stiff enough attachment on the foredeck taking into account the interior accommodations, hatches and so on.

PRESENT INVENTION As has been discussed above, the staying of the mast in a fore and aft direction is problematical. By means of swept spreaders an acceptable staying can be obtained against forces in a forward direction while for the forces in the opposite direction, the use of inner forestays has been required.

The need for inner forestays, however, may be eliminated in the case of swept spreaders if the conventional (See FIGS. 5 and 5a) group of shrouds are complemented by diagonally running stays according to FIG. 7. The part of the top shroud between the upper spreader and the deck is redundant from a theoretical standpoint, and makes the rig statistically undetermined. (This part is shown dotted in the Figure). It is,

however, not recommended that this part of the top shroud be omitted with respect to the otherwise increased compression in the mast between the upper and lower spreaders.

It should be recognized that the rigging of the present invention in principle can be applied with both rearwards and forwards swept spreaders. One more advantage in addition to what is gained from the elimination of the inner forestays is that the number of attachment points in the deck for the standing rig is reduced considerably.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The rig of a sailing yacht with one or more swept spreaders and conventional shrouds is provided with stays running diagonally downward from the tip of the spreaders to the attachment of the next pair of spreaders to the mast, respectively, to the intersection of the mast to the deck, thereby substituting inner forestays.

DRAWINGS The invention will now be described and exemplified with references made to known existing types of rigs and to one version of the rig according to the invention. Sketches of these rigs are presented in the attached drawings in which:

FIGS. I to 3a show two different rigs with one spreader according to the prior art;

FIGS. 4 to 6a show two different rigs with two spreaders according to the prior art; and

FIGS. 7 and 8 show one version of the rig according to the present invention with two spreaders.

FIG. 9 is aview similar to FIG. 8 but to a lesser scale and showing a modified form of the invention wherein the spreaders are swept forwardly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In FIG. 1 is shown a hull l with a rig belonging to the first principal category (as mentioned in the general survey of this description) that is with a mast 2 and one straight spreader 3. The midpoint of the mast is in FIG. 2a braced by means of divided lower shrouds 4, and in FIG. 30 by means of an inner forestay 5, and a single set slightly swept backwards lower shrouds 6. The disadvantage with this type of rig is as already mentioned, that it interferes with the headsails during the maneuvers and sail settings as stated above.

In FIG. 4 there is shown a hull l with a rig belonging to the second principal category, that is with a mast 2 with upper 7 and lower 8 spreaders. The mast in FIG. 5a is braced by means of two inner forestays 9 and 10 to the upper and lower spreader attachment points, respectively. The spreaders 7 and 8 are in this case swept backwards in a fore and aft direction. In addition there are shrouds 11 running from the top of the mast to the tip of the spreader 7; shroud l2 beneath the tips of the spreaders 7 and 8 and shroud 13 between the tips of the spreaders 8 and the hull chainplates and the shrouds 14 and 15. The mast in FIG. 6a is very stiff and therefore it is possible to use straight spreaders and divided lower shrouds l6 and 17. Also, this category of rigs has the disadvantage that inner forestays and divided lower shrouds will interfere with the headsails during the maneuvers and sail settings.

In FIGS. 7 and 8, finally a hull l is shown with a rig with no inner forestays in accordance with the present invention. The rig comprises the mast 2, swept backthe latter running between the tip of the upper spreader v 7 and the attachment of the lower spreader 8 to the mast 2, respectively, between the tips of the lower spreader 8 and the foot of the mast. Although it is not strictly necessary from a trusswork point of view, it is advisable for reasons given alone that the rig according to FIGS. 7 and 8 include extensions of the top shrouds and 21 as dashed in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The above description is only intended to exemplify the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A rigging system for a sailing boat or yacht having a hull and a mast upstanding from the hull; the system including at least one swept spreader projecting from opposite sides of the mast at a location intermediate the ends of the mast, said spreader being swept in the foreaft direction of the boat, and two pairs of diagonal shrouds respectively interconnecting the sections of the spreader on the opposite sides of the mast with the hull.

2. The system defined in claim 1 wherein one shroud in one of said pairs runs downwardly from adjacent the free extremity of the spreader inwardly to adjacent the base of the mast and the other shroud in said pair runs from adjacent the point of attachement of the spreader to the mast outwardly and downwardly to the hull.

3. The system defined in claim 2 wherein the spreader is sweptbackwards in the fore-aft direction of the boat.

4. The system defined in claim 2 wherein said spreader is swept forwardly in the fore-aft direction of the boat.

5. The system defined in claim 2 further including additional shrouds extending from the opposite extremities of the spreader downwardly and being connected to the hull in the vertical plane of the spreader sections.

6. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the mast has a second swept spreader projecting on opposite sides therefrom at a location intermediate the ends of the mast spaced above said first swept spreader and wherein there is further included third and fourth pairs of diagonal shrouds, respectively, interconnecting the second spreader with said first spreader and with portions of the mast adjacent the connections of said first and second spreaders thereto.

7. The system defined in claim 6 wherein one shroud in each of said third and fourth pairs extends from adjacent the extremity of the second spreader downwardly and inwardly to the mast at a location adjacent the connection of the first spreader to the mast and the other shroud in said third and fourth pairs extends from the connection of said second spreader to the mast downwardly and outwardly to the extremity of the first spreader.

8. The system defined in claim 7 wherein said first and second spreaders are swept rearwardly in the foreaft direction of the yacht.

9. The system defined in claim 7 wherein the first and second spreaders are swept forwardly in the fore-aft direction of the yacht.

10. The system defined in claim 6 further including additional shrouds interconnecting the extremities of the first and second spreaders and further extending from the extremity of the first spreader downwardly to the hull and being secured to the hull.

11. The system defined in claim 1 containing no inner forestays interconnecting the mast to the hull.

12. The system defined in claim 1 applied to a sailing boat or yacht having a single hull of the displacement type.

13. A rigging system for a sailboat or yacht having a single hull and being of the displacement ocean-racer type and having a mast upstanding from the hull; the system including at least one swept spreader projecting from opposite sides of the mast at a location intermediate the ends of the mast, said spreader being swept in the fore-aft direction of the boat, and a pair of diagonal shrouds respectively interconnecting extremity portions of the spreader on opposite sides of the mast with the hull adjacent the base of the mast and a pair of shrouds respectively connecting the extremity portions of the spreader on opposite sides of the mast with the mast at a location above the spreader and the hull at a location outwardly from the mast, and wherein the rigging system contains no inner forestays connecting the mast with the hull. 

1. A rigging system for a saiLing boat or yacht having a hull and a mast upstanding from the hull; the system including at least one swept spreader projecting from opposite sides of the mast at a location intermediate the ends of the mast, said spreader being swept in the fore-aft direction of the boat, and two pairs of diagonal shrouds respectively interconnecting the sections of the spreader on the opposite sides of the mast with the hull.
 2. The system defined in claim 1 wherein one shroud in one of said pairs runs downwardly from adjacent the free extremity of the spreader inwardly to adjacent the base of the mast and the other shroud in said pair runs from adjacent the point of attachement of the spreader to the mast outwardly and downwardly to the hull.
 3. The system defined in claim 2 wherein the spreader is swept backwards in the fore-aft direction of the boat.
 4. The system defined in claim 2 wherein said spreader is swept forwardly in the fore-aft direction of the boat.
 5. The system defined in claim 2 further including additional shrouds extending from the opposite extremities of the spreader downwardly and being connected to the hull in the vertical plane of the spreader sections.
 6. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the mast has a second swept spreader projecting on opposite sides therefrom at a location intermediate the ends of the mast spaced above said first swept spreader and wherein there is further included third and fourth pairs of diagonal shrouds, respectively, interconnecting the second spreader with said first spreader and with portions of the mast adjacent the connections of said first and second spreaders thereto.
 7. The system defined in claim 6 wherein one shroud in each of said third and fourth pairs extends from adjacent the extremity of the second spreader downwardly and inwardly to the mast at a location adjacent the connection of the first spreader to the mast and the other shroud in said third and fourth pairs extends from the connection of said second spreader to the mast downwardly and outwardly to the extremity of the first spreader.
 8. The system defined in claim 7 wherein said first and second spreaders are swept rearwardly in the fore-aft direction of the yacht.
 9. The system defined in claim 7 wherein the first and second spreaders are swept forwardly in the fore-aft direction of the yacht.
 10. The system defined in claim 6 further including additional shrouds interconnecting the extremities of the first and second spreaders and further extending from the extremity of the first spreader downwardly to the hull and being secured to the hull.
 11. The system defined in claim 1 containing no inner forestays interconnecting the mast to the hull.
 12. The system defined in claim 1 applied to a sailing boat or yacht having a single hull of the displacement type.
 13. A rigging system for a sailboat or yacht having a single hull and being of the displacement ocean-racer type and having a mast upstanding from the hull; the system including at least one swept spreader projecting from opposite sides of the mast at a location intermediate the ends of the mast, said spreader being swept in the fore-aft direction of the boat, and a pair of diagonal shrouds respectively interconnecting extremity portions of the spreader on opposite sides of the mast with the hull adjacent the base of the mast and a pair of shrouds respectively connecting the extremity portions of the spreader on opposite sides of the mast with the mast at a location above the spreader and the hull at a location outwardly from the mast, and wherein the rigging system contains no inner forestays connecting the mast with the hull. 